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Battle of Brooklyn:
Hang Some, Put Others Down

By

Brendan Miniter

Updated Jan. 25, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

Brooklyn's new borough president, Marty Markowitz, appears to be one of those modern-day politicians uneasy about the Founding Fathers. Within two weeks of taking office, he had a portrait of George Washington removed from his office wall, where it had long been on display. Washington was merely an "old white man," and the office, Mr. Markowitz said, needed a "diversity" makeover. The portrait, a reproduction of a famous Gilbert Stuart painting, now leans against the wall in a little-used meeting room.

"Mr. Brooklyn," as Mr. Markowitz is called, has a lot to learn about Brooklyn history -- and Washington's role in it.

Only a short walk from Mr. Markowitz's office, Washington set up his headquarters and weathered an attack by the largest British invasion force in history at the time. By late August 1776 the British had ferried about 20,000 troops, including much-feared German mercenaries, across the narrows now spanned by the Verrazano Bridge. Fewer than 10,000 Americans were defensively spread throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan -- Fort Washington, the Battery and Fort Greene all derive their names from American positions.

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Not long into the fighting, all appeared to be lost for the Americans. One British column had advanced as a diversion. The other swung wide and launched a surprise attack behind American lines. The patriots were bayoneted near what is now the Long Island Rail Road station on Atlantic Avenue and fled into what is now Prospect Park. In one patch of grueling fighting near Gowanus Creek, Mordecai Gist counterattacked with 400 Marylanders. They nearly broke the British line. After several more charges, Gist retreated.

Another day of bayonet charges would probably have crushed the Americans. But a torrential rain settled the British armies into siege positions and a wind kept the British ships out of the East River. On Aug. 29, from a spot now marked with a plaque on the Brooklyn promenade, Washington gave the order to withdraw. He used Massachusetts men to secretly pull out at night. Four months later, at Christmas, these same men would quietly row Washington to victory at Trenton, when he famously crossed the Delaware River.

All this gives George Washington a deeper connection to Brooklyn than most people realize. His first major engagement in the Revolution was the Battle of Brooklyn.

Now Brooklyn is the site of a new battle, as Mr. Markowitz wages a not-so-covert assault on history. And Washington isn't the only fallen leader. Mr. Markowitz dismissed two-dozen other portraits as "dead white men" and told a reporter that "we don't know who these people are."

Is the borough president bothered by his ignorance and duly instructing his staff to find out who these men were? Mr. Markowitz's communications director, Glenn von Nostitz, tells me no. "We're understaffed already," he explains. "We don't have time."

That's too bad. Finding the identities of the men is easy. Some are labeled; others have been identified by the Brooklyn Museum. Most were mayors before Brooklyn merged into New York City in 1898. They include Major Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, one-time commander of Fort Greene and Brooklyn's third mayor, whose portrait has him holding a watch -- symbolizing his famous annoyance at council members who were late to meetings. Then there is a youthful Henry Cruse Murphy, known for cutting his own pay as mayor and founding a debate club that grew into the Brooklyn Lyceum. And another is Mayor George Hall, who campaigned on closing "unlicensed rum shops" and putting a stop to hogs roaming the streets.

To Mr. Markowitz, the men in the portraits aren't relevant today. He assumes his constituents of various ethnicities and hues will better identify with people who look more like themselves. And a few women's portraits wouldn't hurt either.

Well, maybe they wouldn't. But there's room for "new faces" without removing all of the old. Here's a suggested addition: Jeronimus Remsen, who commanded 100 Kings and Queens County militiamen during the Battle of Brooklyn. His white maleness may be a bit pass&eacute;, but it's not as if military prowess is irrelevant today.

Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com, the Web site of the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal.